Renewing visa law changed?

doubleup_dan

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So I have been spending 4-5 months of the year here in the summers for the last 12 years. Never had a visa/entrance issue. Sometimes to renew my tourist visa I will leave the country so times I have extended it and I have also overstayed it and paid the fine.

So yesterday it was that time again so I went to colonia for the day but when I was leaving the immigration officer told me that the law has recently been changed because of all the Colombians and venazulens and they are cracking down on people that “live” in the country with out a residency. He also told me that if I get the wrong officer when I came back in I could be denied entry as I have so many Argentina stamps in my passport.

Well this had me worried the whole trip and it almost ruined my chivito. Needless to say I breezed through immigration and and she didn’t ask me a single question but I want to know, has there been a change and what are the official rules on tourist staying over the 3 month limit? I never spend more the 6 months here in a 12 month period normally 4.5 months.
 
It's a Gamble

If you get the wrong officer when came back in, could be denied entry as you have so many Argentina stamps in passport. :rolleyes:o_O
 
I don't think the total number of stamps is likely to be grounds for denying reentry, especially if you never spent more than 180 days in any 365 (consecutive) day period in Argentina. I'm guessing that, because you went to Colonia to get a new 90 day and also have many stamps in your passport, the immigration officer assumed that you were staying more than 180 days per year. A stay of up to 180 days per year is allowed by current rules.

If what you say is correct, your exit and entry stamps would actually provide evidence you are not "living" in Argentina. Before they actually deny reentry at some point in the future I'm sure they would take a closer look at your passport (which I'm also guessing will have to be replaced in the "near" future). I wouldn't lose any sleep over this if I was in your shoes. The facts (and the law) are on your side.
 
I don't think the total number of stamps is likely to be grounds for denying reentry, especially if you never spent more than 180 days in any 365 (consecutive) day period in Argentina. I'm guessing that, because you went to Colonia to get a new 90 day and also have many stamps in your passport, the immigration officer assumed that you were staying more than 180 days per year. A stay of up to 180 days per year is allowed by current rules.

If what you say is correct, your exit and entry stamps would actually provide evidence you are not "living" in Argentina. Before they actually deny reentry at some point in the future I'm sure they would take a closer look at your passport (which I'm also guessing will have to be replaced in the "near" future). I wouldn't lose any sleep over this if I was in your shoes. The facts (and the law) are on your side.

This is what I thought. He definitely thought I was living in the country with out actually checking properly. Thanks
 
This is what I thought. He definitely thought I was living in the country with out actually checking properly. Thanks

If, as I believe Dr. Rubilar has posted a number of times, there is no difference between an overstay of the 90 day visa (aka the I-94) and making a trip to Colonia to get a new 90 day visa, why go to the trouble of doing so? If you are always in Argentina for less than 180 days per year, why not get a prorroga de permanencia at migraciones before the expiration of your "original" 90 day visas? As far as I know, that is actually what the "rules" prescribe.
 
What happens if you stay more than 180 days? Do they actually enforce that rule?
 
If, as I believe Dr. Rubilar has posted a number of times, there is no difference between an overstay of the 90 day visa (aka the I-94) and making a trip to Colonia to get a new 90 day visa, why go to the trouble of doing so? If you are always in Argentina for less than 180 days per year, why not get a prorroga de permanencia at migraciones before the expiration of your "original" 90 day visas? As far as I know, that is actually what the "rules" prescribe.

Well there are 2 reasons for this. The first is the last few times I have travelled to Argentina the check in staff always seem to get a note on their computer that I need a visa. Well this ends With them saying they won’t let me check in until I have proof I that I will leave Argentina in the 3 months. This has happened to me in more then one country. My guess to why they do this is because if I get denied entry they are responsible to bring me back?

I have also been told when entering Argentina that if I overstay my visa again I might not be allowed back. I have done it 2-3 times before.
 
I have also been told when entering Argentina that if I overstay my visa again I might not be allowed back. I have done it 2-3 times before.

Well, that certainly puts the "just overstay and pay the fine when you leave" and/or "going to Colonia is pointless" in an entirely different light, doesn't it?

It sound like going to Colonia to get a new 90 day visa isn't such a bad idea after all, especially if you are never in Argentina more than 180 days per year, and even more so after a migraciones official actually told you that if you overstay again that you might not be allowed back

PS: Perhaps the "three strikes and you're out" rule that expats have been worried about for the past ten years is more likely to be enforced in the near future than at any time in the past.
 
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Well there are 2 reasons for this. The first is the last few times I have travelled to Argentina the check in staff always seem to get a note on their computer that I need a visa. Well this ends With them saying they won’t let me check in until I have proof I that I will leave Argentina in the 3 months. This has happened to me in more then one country. My guess to why they do this is because if I get denied entry they are responsible to bring me back?

I have also been told when entering Argentina that if I overstay my visa again I might not be allowed back. I have done it 2-3 times before.
From reading your earlier posts I presume you are a British Citizen, traveling on a British passport and the first leg of your journey is (usually) from a busy British airport. Anything I'm misunderstanding so far? When you say you've been flagged "in more than one country" do you mean you've been flagged in the UK when you are going to countries other than Argentina or that it happens when you leave from a country other than the UK and only when your final destination is Argentina? Have you ever visited a country that has less than cordial relations with the UK and/or Argentina?

The number of stamps in your passport might provide visual clues for the immigration officer and might prompt certain questions from some of them but it is the electronic record that counts. The electronic record follows all your comings and goings across all your changes of personal details and if that record looks like the log of a tourist coming and going on a tourist stamp I can't see it causing you any actual problems.
 
Changes: decree 616/2010 that states that the abuse of entry stamp is illegal.
DNU 70/2017.
 
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